Vol. 211 April 15, 2019 A Modest Proposal To Eradicate Measles In The U.S.

Measles was declared “eradicated” in 2000. Since then we have had unexpected U.S. measles outbreaks in 2014 and presently we are breaking all records for new cases (78 cases just this very week). In 2014 there were 667 cases of measles in Amish country of Ohio. Since January 1, 2019 the U.S. has had 465 cases in 19 states.

For those of us who are used to hearing big numbers every day—size of the national debt, baseball player salaries, number of immigrants pounding on our door, etc.—these numbers don’t sound very compelling. BUT, measles is a preventable disease. One measles vaccine shot protects the recipient 93% of the time. When you add the second shot years later the individual’s protection goes to 97%.

Measles, the most infectious disease we know, can cause debilitating encephalitis (brain swelling), pneumonia, and, very rarely in the U.S., death in both infants and adults. Madagascar is not so lucky. Because of its poverty Madagascar has a vaccination rate of only 58% despite the population’s desire for vaccination. They had 1200 deaths in the115,000 who got measles last year. Europe had 41,000 measles cases in 2018. A community vaccination rate of 90-95% is necessary for effective “herd immunity” in which the vaccinated keep the un-vaccinated safe just be reducing their chances of exposure.

You are not likely to be exposed to a case of Madagascar measles, but if you happen to be in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, or Rockland County, NY, or Portland, Washington, or near Sacremento, California, you may be exposed. These four hot spots of current measles outbreak apparently share an unintended consequence of easy-access global travel. Unvaccinated Orthodox Jews returning from the September annual Hasidic Pilgrimage from Israel to Uman, Ukraine unexpectedly brought measles back to their unvaccinated, ultra-orthodox Jewish U.S. communities.

There is no aversion to vaccination in the Bible, the Quran, or even Sanskrit texts. It is speculated that these communities have low measles vaccination rates because of “anxiety about science”, “concern about risks of new technology”, and, especially in Soviet emigres, “distrust of the government”.

In 1896 a Jewish man in Britain refused vaccination contending that it was against his religion. The prosecutor, also Jewish, asked the opinion of the Chief Rabbi of Britain who answered, “Hogwash.” The London court agreed.

Anti-vaxxers don’t respond to facts, They reject scientific data. They are apparently immune to dreaded stories about sick, dying children but appear to believe dreaded stories of assumed vaccine reactions. The mayor of New York City has declared a public health emergency and wants to fine any Williamsburg orthodox Jew who refuse the measles vaccine $1000. He has threatened to even close non-compliant Yeshivas. Rockland County tried to bar unvaccinated persons from public places including . . . gasp, . . . malls! A judge with a cooler head put that on hold.

After reading about the British 1896 court case a modest proposal just sprang out of my head: We should sue an anti-vaxxer, the parent of an unvaccinated child, for civil damages!

It has been recently and repeatedly affirmed that one way to get things done in America, to effect change, is to sue somebody—your spouse, your neighbor, the police, the National Enquirer, the President, whomever.

So, all we have to do is wait until an unvaccinated child with measles exposes a vaccinated child. Since we know that the measles vaccine is not truly 100% effective, the vaccinated child has a small chance (probably 3% – 7%) of getting measles. If the vaccinated child now with measles develops the more common complication of pneumonia, or the rare one of encephalitis, or the even rarer one of death, his or her parents could sue the unvaccinated child’s parents for all present and future medical bills, loss of school days, future loss of income due to brain damage, loss of companionship, and other compelling emotional stresses dear to personal injury lawyers. If encephalitis were the complication, the huge jury award would be enough to get the attention of even the most adamant anti-vaxxers. They would learn that their stance is not just a risk to society; it could be a large monetary risk to them personally.